BRIAN Talbot signed on as relegation-haunted Oldham's seventh manager in 10 years and admitted: "I can't wait to get my teeth into the job."

He added: "I know it is not going to be easy, football never is.

"You look at the league table and realise you have to do something about it.

"But I have been in this situation before and we need to get results quickly because there are only 12 games left. The priority must be to stay in this division."

Talbot, 50, who starred for Ipswich, Arsenal and England in a playing career stretching to more than 600 games, has been promised money for players to stave off any disastrous plunge into the third division.

He was the number one choice for the Boundary Park hot-seat by the American-based business tycoons who have already sunk in around £7m to help the Latics pull back from the brink of bankruptcy.

Talbot, who took unfashionable Rushden and Diamonds from the bottom of the Conference to the second division in seven years, said: "You have to move to another challenge.

"Oldham is a bigger club with potential and the new owners are keen to take it forward.

Attractive

"You can get a lot of people in this ground and we will need to win matches to fill the stadium.

"I would like to do that by playing attractive, open football and scoring goals, but sometimes results and the opposition dictate the way you play." Talbot has worked with some big-name managers but is determined to be his own man.

He explained: "I will make decisions and stand or fall by them, always remembering that you do make mistakes.

"But I am looking forward to getting onto the training pitch and finding out what the players are all about.

"The key word will be success - that is what I am here for."

Director Simon Corney, one of the three who masterminded the Latics' route out of administration, said: "We are here to stay and we wanted a manager to stay with us - that man is Brian Talbot.

"Being relegated is not an option and there will be money available to buy players.

"This appointment was always going to be the key to the future because it starts and finishes with the manager. We are now set to move on."